"I've lived in Seattle my whole life, and I don't think it's ever been this cool," says Robin Pecknold, with tangible excitement. Pecknold is the frontman of Fleet Foxes, a group whose unique sound is hymnal and baroque, with mandolins and banjos and extraordinary vocal harmonies, and one of several bands at the forefront of a vibrant new Seattle scene that also encompasses the stoner folk of the Cave Singers, and the exuberant pop of Throw Me the Statue. "The community is pretty small," he adds, "everyone knows each other and is being supportive of one another, and it's awesome to see people doing well. It's very cooperative. Also a lot of guys are in multiple bands here, which is another good thing. Like, two members of Crystal Skulls are in our band. It's well-composed, complicated pop music." He also cites J Tillman, his brother Zach Tillman and Tiny Vipers among Seattle acts to watch.

Since the mid-90s, Seattle, once home to Nirvana and Pearl Jam, has been weighted with a cumbersome grunge legacy it is now keen to shake. "I remember when Kurt Cobain died, I was pretty young," says Pecknold, "but it seems like the grunge thing was more of a press creation. Seattle has changed a lot since then. Commerce-wise in the grunge days, it was a small town. That changed after Microsoft and Amazon and Starbucks came here. Now the neighbourhoods are unrecognisable. And I think the music has changed a lot, too."

The new Seattle sound no longer resembles the scrawly angst of grunge. Rather it is music that seems to reflect the city's geographical location, sitting on the west coast of the United States, hovering between the hipster enclave of Portland and the psychedelic haven of Vancouver. "It's definitely a mellowed-out sound," says Pecknold, "it's more musically toned down."

Fleet Foxes began with Pecknold and Skye Skjelset, who have known each other since seventh grade. "We just did music pretty casually for a long time," he says. "About a year and a half ago we met these guys [Casey Wescott, Christian Wargo, Nick Peterson] and started writing these songs in earnest." Last year, they signed to Seattle-based label Sub Pop "because they were just the nicest people we met. It just felt right, they were just good folks, and it's good to have them in town."

Most of the scene revolves around the Capitol Hill neighbourhood. "The majority of the venues are there," says Pecknold, "it used to be cheap, and there's still cheap apartments to be had, but there's so much condo development going on there now. The cheaper neighbourhood now is Georgetown, which is probably a bit like SoHo in New York in the 1970s, with a lot of industrial space." Capitol Hill is also home to Redwood, a bar owned by Mat Brooke, formerly of Band of Horses (who've since left Seattle for South Carolina), and now singer/guitarist in Grand Archives. "You'll usually find some of the family in there," he says. The neighbourhood also hosts the annual Capitol Hill Block Party. "The Murder City Devils reformed for that one year," Pecknold recalls. "They're punk-hardcore, but way cooler than that description makes them sound. It was insane."

The Seattle music scene was dealt a blow recently, however, by the sudden closure of one of its most famous venues, the Crocodile Cafe. "I played the last show there," says Pecknold. "The booker asked if I wanted to play a couple of songs by myself, and the next day it closed. I don't know why. Now there's Chop Suey - they have the old booker from the Crocodile Cafe, and a club called Neumos which is bigger, 700-1,000 people or something. Like, if Animal Collective came to town, they'd play Neumos."

There is, you gather, much to be excited about in this rainy, caffeine-fuelled city. "Seattle's changing a lot," concludes Pecknold. "Municipally, in a negative way - I don't think the city government knows how to tie their shoes without having a vote about it. But musically it's rad. It's a good place to be."

· The Cave Singers' album Invitation Songs is out now on Matador. Fleet Foxes will be releasing their first album later this year on Bella Union